Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: November 2008

On the buses…

In these days of recession and economic hardship, it is good to know that money is being well spent. The British Humanist Association has raised the sum of £36,000 in order to place the following slogan on London's bendy buses for four weeks (see BBC website report):

There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.

Professor Richard Dawkins, a keen supporter of the advertising campaign, says "This ... will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion". Views wonders quite how much thought went into this expenditure in such a time as this? Thoughtless Christians could doubtless have spent the money on feeding programmes, relief work, or even advertising something positive.

Whilst pondering the outlay, Views would like to report the sighting of another vehicle bearing an advertising slogan. The words were spotted on the side of an empty passenger train rattling off into the distance on a branch line which heads into the middle of nowhere. On the grubby, peeling paintwork of the empty driverless train, the following words could be picked out:

There's probably no Now stop worrying and get on with your life.

The thing is - people were obeying it. They were steadfastly ignoring the little train, leaving it to rattle off into the distance, whilst they all got on with their lives! For the vast majority of people, the philosophical opinions of Professors matter very little.

It is to be hoped that this campaign does not set off a slogan war between those of faith and those without it. Few will be convinced by such slogans, and many will simply be irritated by them. When the Christian faith first exploded out of Jerusalem under its initial wave of persecution, it was gossiped, rather than proclaimed or advertised. In this way a major world religion was born. No big budgets or slick advertising campaigns were involved. Instead, the faith was passed on from the mouths of those who had found faith in Jesus to the ears of those who had not.

The reality, or otherwise, of God is better discussed in the bus than advertised on the bus!